The purchase of Toshiba assets by Western Digital would suit everyone, except antimonopolists

POSTER:computer news || THE PURCHASE OF TOSHIBA ASSETS BY WESTERN DIGITAL WOULD SUIT EVERYONE, EXCEPT ANTIMONOPOLISTS

DATE:2017-04-21

For Western Digital Corporation, the priority is to maintain the competitiveness of the joint venture with Toshiba, but under certain conditions, an American company may consider participating in the purchase of assets for sale. For example, Japanese investment funds may come to the aid of an already heavily invested corporation to acquire SanDisk. Moreover, this idea has already been approved in the profile Japanese ministry, as Reuters specifies.

According to Japanese media, Japanese INCJ and DBJ are ready to buy up to 30% of the shares of the new company that Toshiba puts up for auction. For Western Digital, participating in such a transaction is not only a chance to ease the financial burden, but also the opportunity to enlist the support of the Japanese government. There remain two main problems. First, Broadcom also wants to cooperate with Japanese investors. Secondly, WDC's participation in the purchase of Toshiba's core business will raise questions with authorities. Judge for yourself, WDC and Toshiba now control 16% and 19% of the NAND memory market, respectively, Samsung accounts for 35%. After a hypothetical deal between WDC and Toshiba, a strong competitor will appear in the Korean giant.

In a word, the situation affects the interests of many companies, and therefore the talks promise to be long and complicated. Toshiba, in turn, is set to dialogue with WDC, and will soon provide a written response to the claims of the American corporation.